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Acronis Disk Director

Backblaze

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Acronis Disk Director

Backblaze

IBackup

Cloudswave Editorial Review

Zoolz

Acronis Disk Director

Backup management

No Cloudswave Editorial Review available yet.

Backblaze

Backup management

Backblaze Review by Cloudswave

Is your hard drive dead? Is the USB flash drive is not readable again? Backblaze knows hundreds of such stories. Since 2007, this software makes online backup of user data and restores files on demand. Among the offered features are quiet task processing in the background, copying of only changed files for saving space, the 30 days storage for deleted files, strong encryption at the user side.

How to backup the files safely?

There are many ways of making the backup of important files. For example, you can save files on the USB flash drive or memory card, burn the files on DVD, buy the external HDD and make a copy there, or just use one of the cloud storage solutions. The last option makes sense because you don’t depend on the storage media and can grab your files even in case of emergency.

But not all cloud storage services may fit well, because if you have a lot of files to backup (photos, videos, music etc.) you should pay extra for the additional space. For example, popular Dropbox offers 1000 Gb of space for $99 a year, e.g. $8.25 a month. And what if you want to backup more than a terabyte of data? Well, another popular cloud provider Google Drive offers 20 TB for $199.99 a month. Pricey, eh?

So, one could think that the more data you need to be stored online the more money you should spend. Well, not actually. It is a great idea to look for the solutions that do not limit the uploaded data. Though it may sound impossible there are such services. Backblaze is one of them. For only $5 a month you get unlimited space to backup all files online.

If it sounds too good to be true you probably will ask what's the catch? Well, actually Backblaze will not replace Google Drive or Dropbox functionality. This software is made only for backup and restoring, and there is no usual sync there. You don’t have sync folder on all your devices; you just copy data to the server and may restore it anytime. And if you want to backup files from the other device you need to pay $5 more.

Start using Backblaze

The registration process is fast and clear (you don’t even need to confirm the email address). Since you downloaded the desktop client for Windows or Mac, you may start your free trial. Backblaze doesn’t offer free version and the new users have 15 days to learn and evaluate the software. Some may be disappointed, but such policy gives an opportunity to keep the price low.

Backblaze automatically finds out all local and external hard drives and immediately starts to backup them. The user may pause the copying if there is not enough bandwidth, but in most cases software silently works automatically in the background mode. The first backup may take several days, a week or even two weeks, but it will not generally prevent you from using computer normally.

After the first backup is finished Backblaze uses incremental backup. E.g. it constantly looks only for new and changed files and uploads it to the server. Backblaze also looks for the deleted files. The files that were deleted from the computer are saved on the cloud server for 30 days and then deleted.

Keep in mind that this rule applies to the external drives too, so to keep the copy of them on your Backblaze account you should connect them no at least once in 30 days.

Additional settings for every user

Though in most cases Backblaze works as it and doesn’t need additional tweaking, there are some useful settings that may be changed if needed.

Speed adjustment

For example, if you feel that while Backblaze is working the webpages are loaded too slowly, you may reduce the speed of backup. Just go to the “Performance” tab in program settings and turn off the automatic throttle. You then will be able to change the copying speed manually and also set the number of backup threads (from 1 to 10). There is also an option that may prevent the Backblaze from uploading files when the laptop is working on battery power. This will increase the battery life.

Backup time setup

By default the backup occurs continuously, but it is possible to set the daily backup specifying the time of start and end. However there is no flexible configuration of the scheduler.

Say, you can’t choose several days of the week or configure the uploading time for different days separately. On the other hand the automatic backup may be off completely. In this case the user needs to click “Backup Now” button every time when he wants to copy files to the server.

File and folder exclusions

To store the bandwidth (and the disk space at Backblaze datacenter) the software doesn’t copy some data by default. For example, usually there is no need to save the copy of operating system, application folder, and temporary internet files. Such files as ISO (disk images), DMG (mac disk image), VMC VHD VMSN (virtual drives), SYS (system configuration & drivers), EXE (application files), backups like Time Machine and Retrospect RDB are not copied on the server too.

But if the user decides that he actually needs this data it is possible to set the exclusions manually. Just go to the “Exclusions” tab where you can set the folders and file types that will not be backed up. It is also possible to set the file size limit and not upload files that are larger than the size specified (say, 4GB).

Secure backup

Like many other similar solutions Backblaze uses AES encryption on the user’s side. It means that all data is sent on the server in encrypted form. It may be decrypted only per user request, and one needs to provide email and password to do it.However some may think that such level of security isn’t enough because the password can be retrieved in some way. So there is private encryption key that provides an additional layer of security. The private encryption key is used together with the email and password to decrypt and restore data. This key is never stored in Backblaze and can’t be retrieved in any way. If the user forgets this key there is no way to restore the decrypted data, so it’s better not to lose it or choose the basic protection instead.

Files restoring

It is possible to recover all backed data at any time. There are several options for restoring: to retrieve the files through web interface, to order USB flash drive (with up to 128 Gb of data) or USB drive (with up to 3 Tb of data). These options are great because the user can get all files even if the computer was burned down, the laptop was stolen etc.

Restoring of files through the web interface is completely free. You just login into your account, go to the ‘’View/Restore Files” section and check the files or folders in online file manager.

Backblaze will prepare the files and once they are ready you will receive the download link through the email. All files are packed into ZIP for convenient download. The ZIP archive is stored on the server for 7 days and may be downloaded as many times as needed.

Additional features

Web interface may be used not just for the restoring of files. Here you can see the past restores and download the files again, check the backup status and also view the last uploaded files. But maybe the most useful feature of the web interface is “Locate My Computer”. Iа the laptop was stolen this feature may help to retrieve it. Despite the fact that you may cancel your Backblaze account anytime it is not recommended to do it if your laptop was stolen. If the theft was using your PC with Internet on you will see the statistics collected by the Backblaze software. It includes the last copied files (it may help to find out which files the thief has uploaded in recovering your computer), computer IP address, the ISP that was used, and ISP contacts. Having this data in your hands it is possible to contact the police and include the network address in the police report. And if you worry that the thief may log in into Backblaze account, you may just change the password from the web interface.

Conclusion

Backblaze is simple yet powerful online backup solution that can be used by everyone. There is no need to be a geek to use it. It automatically copies all data that can be valuable for user and continuously monitors all new and changed files. At the same time it allows some tweaking, making it possible to exclude some files and folders from the backup, to reduce speed or to set the appropriate time for files uploading. Also it’s worth to mention that Backblaze doesn’t limit the amount of files, the file size and disk space. Just for $5 a month you really get truly unlimited backup solution for one device.

IBackup

Most Favorable Critic Review

Zoolz

Backup management

75

Kathryn James , Best cloud storage

Thursday 30 January 2014

Zoolz is the best cloud storage offering Amazon Cold Storage feature at the most economical rate. Zoolz is easy to use and functions perfectly. However, if you’re a regular home user, you should probably look for some alternative cloud storage service as Zoolz offers a much better price for the business users than the home ones. When it comes to business, Zoolz features great options and stands on a competing ground with Mozy Pro, CrashPlan Pro or Carbonite for Business. I think their business plans are fantastic with extra options for setting up your own pricing plan. You’ve got to admit that not many cloud services can offer that!

Acronis Disk Director

Backup management

80

Chris Snoke , TopTenReviews

Wednesday 31 December 1969

We are impressed with the feature set included in Acronis Disk Director. Although this partition manager could be better designed to help novice computer users understand each function, we think that the extra questions asked by the setup wizards give advanced users more flexibility to format their hard drive how they wish. For this reason, we recommend this software to advanced computer users.

Backblaze

Backup management

75

Daren Low , GetCloudStorage

Monday 05 January 2015

For the personal user who doesn’t have a ton of files, Backblaze is a very affordable and easy-to-use service that automatically saves all your files without having to think about it. This is a great choice for people who just want to set it and forget it and have access to their files in case of emergency.

IBackup

Backup management

81

Jonathan Boyd , Backup Guide

Thursday 25 September 2014

iBackup is a popular and reliable service for business and enterprise backup. iBackup features the highest standard of security and performance. Business plans start at $9.95 monthly for 500 Gb of storage. Supports data protection and recovery for small or large businesses. A solid choice if you need to backup both company computers as well as Windows/Mac servers.

Most Unfavorable Critic Review

Zoolz

Backup management

20

Geoff Akerlund , Backup Review

Sunday 01 March 2015

If you don’t mind waiting up to 5 hours to restore your files, Zoolz offers great online backup features at a low price. In light of Zoolz checking filenames on customer accounts, I no longer recommend it and Unlimited storage has been discontinued.

Acronis Disk Director

Backup management

No critic review available yet for Acronis Disk Director .

Backblaze

Backup management

25

Ted Needleman , Notebook Review

Friday 14 September 2012

To be fair, cloud-based backup and restore can be very slow, anyway. Moreover, many users have complained online about a range of problems with competing cloud services, including lengthy restoral processes, installation headaches, exclusion of certain file types from backup, and even loss of data.

IBackup

Backup management

25

Matt Smollinger , Small Net Builder

Wednesday 09 March 2011

In closing, IBackup is a bit of a mess. The core service works well, but the documentation, pricing, and security leave a lot to be desired. The general cold shoulder for Mac OS, security-wise, makes me think IBackup/IDrive isn't really serious about supporting it.

IBackup

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